This should be interesting. Roger Gracie has top of the line heavyweight ability but just has not been tested yet. Sergei Kharitonov is not a top 10 heavy these days, but he is still top 20. Pretty well rounded with heavy hands.

i am extremely intrigued by this match up. Sergei is going to be the toughest test of Roger's young MMA career and we will get to see how he does against someone with legitimate stand up skills. i think Roger gets this to the ground and takes the fight to his world. he will then fins a submission sooner or later.

i am glad that he is going to be tested this earlier on...hopefully he won't diappoint

Roger's the Best Jui Jitsu Practitioner in MMA period and his Jui Jitsu translates into MMA well but I do think he loses this Fight. Sergei's Stand Up and Ground and Pound will be too much, if Roger tries to pull guard his afec will end up like hamburger meat. Look at what Sergei did to Semmy on the Ground. That GnP was Devastating.

roger gracie quite possibly has the best bjj on the planet. he is that good at jiu jitsu. i think he will also be one of the top guys in mma and ill be glad to see the gracie name at the top of the rankings again. kharitonov is exactly the type of a guy that could give a great bjj guy trouble as roger is likely to take some serious abuse on the way to getting the fight to the ground. if it does hit the ground though it should be game over...this guy is so much better than almost anyone else you can think of with top notch jiu jitsu in mma. both nogs, mir, aoki, and even jacare is not in his league imo. he won the absolutes at adcc and submitted every single opponent...that is tough as it is not nearly as easy to submit guys in straight grappling when you cant use punches to open things up...i hope he gets it to the ground without getting caught but this will be a stern test...

roger gracie quite possibly has the best bjj on the planet. he is that good at jiu jitsu.

I agree, but we already know that being exceptional at one discipline doesn't translate to success against a good MMA fighter.

Kharitonov is one of the most well-rounded heavyweights in the world, with 7 wins by (T)KO and 7 by submission (and he's a finisher, with only 1 win by Decision). Of his three losses, he's been TKO'd twice and lost a Decision to Big Nog; he's never been submitted. Nogueira and Werdum gave him trouble, but they're both more accomplished MMA fighters than Gracie is. And Kharitonov doesn't just grapple boxers and box grapplers. He's beaten Semmy Schilt, Pedro Rizzo, and Alistair Overeem to pulp, and caught Mike Russow in an arm-bar.

Gracie looked awesome against Waterman, but Kondo is at best a Light-Heavyweight, and not a top fighter at any weight. Kharitonov is arguably a Top-10 Heavyweight, who admittedly hasn't fought in almost a year. If Gracie wins this fight, it will be a massive upset.